OREANDA-NEWS. The Russian economy has now completed its recovery and GDP growth in 2021 is unlikely to be more than 4.2%, said the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.

"With regard to economic growth, taking into account the development of the situation, we estimate GDP growth for the current year at 4.2%. In August, when the forecast was drawn up, many experts said that economic growth could be higher," Reshetnikov said, speaking at a meeting of the budget committee State Duma.

He noted that business activity has slowed down.

"Recovery has generally exhausted itself, the economy has entered its own trajectory, the epidemiological situation has worsened, so we can hardly count on higher rates this year," Reshetnikov added.

The official forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development in the original version assumes the growth of the Russian economy by 4.2% this year, in 2022-2023 - at the level of 3%.

Earlier, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov did not rule out that the growth rate of the Russian economy by the end of 2021 may exceed the government's forecast.

Earlier, the Ministry of Economic Development increased the forecast for inflation in the Russian Federation for 2021 to 7.4% from 5.8%, the main contribution to the rise in prices is made by food inflation, as the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov told. "The events that are taking place in the external and internal markets of food and goods have led us to the need to adjust the estimate of inflation at the end of the year," Reshetnikov said.